First Thing with the Cotmans

Watercolours. Life is good.
Character drawing isn't going to end for a while, particularly as now I'm working on a comic that actually tries to illustrate the universe in my head...

Yon Ux + Dan(iella) Stoke

Last Thing with the Copics

My watercolours arrived as I was colouring this. For my birthday Tom was kind enough to replace my beloved set of Winsor and Newton watercolour tubes which were unfortunately lost in numerous house moves last year. ...although sod's law suggests they'll turn up at the bottom of a box in the future.

The Island - fineliner and Copic marker on a4 inkjet paper

For colouring vibrant things (well that would be all of my things then) very very quickly and effectively, Copics are great. They are great in all respects - a pleasure to use, they store well, no mess and I feel confident with them. However watercolours are so much greater in all of those respects. Marker pens, no matter how colourful and numerous, will not satisfy the soul like paints do. 

It's great to be reunited with my old friends. 

Rudwin & Leyana Ux

Firstly, a character drawing for my friend, again. His ideas are so interesting - I'm looking forward to the next one. And I... er... had rather a lot of fun with the Copic markers... ;)

 

Rudwin, an original character by Jake Cooper

And now, another character drawing for Specimens. A sorceror and the headmaster of Elthove, Leyana Ux. He's "married" (or something less Christian) to Yon Ux, the sorceress from the previous journal entry. 

Leyana Ux, an original character by me

I won a real bargain auction on eBay a few days ago on some Winsor & Newton watercolours, and once they arrive there will be five colours I need and then I'll have the full set and be happy enough to start painting again. Copics are fun, vibrant and most of all give the intended results immediately. However, getting lost in a watercolour painting is really something else, and I can't wait to get that back.

Yon Ux

 

And Earl Grey the cat - more commonly called Earl, and referred to as "The Earl".

I want to just draw a comic but there's just so much surrounding stuff that I need to finalise. This was meant to just be a fun little spin-off of Specimens, but the more I do anything with any character or setting or moment or dialogue, the more I realise I haven't fully thought through everything else. It's a pretty convoluted way of writing the saga (I'm writing the either fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh chapter at the moment depending on chronology), but I quite like it. I think, like a jigsaw, while the concepts are slowly fitted in all over the place, I will eventually finish it.

Speaking of the proposed comic (I will feel better about it, perhaps, if I come up with a working title), here are some very unpleasantly drawn character designs that I didn't feel like sharing but I s'pose I should:

 Dan Stoke (x2), Urika Irving and Blaze Trevethen

These will be the three very young (this is a more youthful, naive sub-plot of Specs, so they're only around 10-11) protagonists of the comic. They are reworkings of characters I wrote about years ago, so I do feel comfortable with them.

I'm about ⅙ of the way through writing the script for the comic, then I'll make some storyboards, then... maybe actually draw something. It's been a very long time since I've done any kind of art project, and I really do miss this.

February Home Horticultural Highlights

1. Clivia miniata, 2. Hippeastrum 'Apple Blossom', 3. Hippeastrum 'Red Lion' & 'Apple Blossom', 4. Begonia 'Tiger Paws', 5. Fockea edulis, 6. Spectrum, 7. Colocasia esculenta, 8. Ludisia discolor var. dawsoniana, 9. Ludisia discolor var. dawsoniana I had so many events to choose from, but i think this illustrates two things. 1: It looks like I'm enjoying tropicals as much as desert plants for once. 2: And more importantly, look at all that sunshine! Days are getting longer and the weather is clearly improving. Everything is waking up and budding and blossoming in all of those luxurious hours of sunlight we're enjoying every day. Here's something that deserved particular attention. Canna indica purpurea seedlings, just 4 days from germination. They're so healthy and growing so quickly. These seeds were collected from dot plants in the Horniman's bedding last year, so as perennials these will join the few souvenir plants I'm growing. There's quite a bit of colour variation, which I think is a result of open pollination. I also very much enjoyed Kew's Orchid Exhibition before I left London. I'm trying to keep this more of an art blog than a gardening blog, but oh look, it's infiltrating again.

Specimens

Left: Scene from Specimens: "Siberia". "Siberia" is the working title of the chapter I'm writing at the moment. I might call it something else like "Freighters"; something more abstract. Now there's a thing to think about, along with a million other Specimens-saga related things. Right: An early and minor character from early Specimens. The first chapter - the working title of that being "Waking" but that sounds silly so I will definitely change that. Carnelian White, grandfather of Miranda White and mixer of colours. I'm very much enjoying sorting out the chronology of my saga, sorting out all that is lacking.

Other People's Creatures

I should update this thing more often. Right, catch up on art from the last month: Dagger-Tailed Ondreths and Shidleys respectively. Because my best friend is more creative than me so I just draw his ideas. They are so original, and so much fun!

Good Evening Sirs and Madams

[Gardener - Illustrator] ...is that going to be my tagline? Do I dare put "artist"? New year, new blog. A month and a half late. ;) Happy Valentine's Day! Well, before updating my profile, I shall give a brief synopsis of things as they stand now. Actually rather dandy currently. I have completed the academic side of my year-long apprenticeship in horticulture, and have just 4 days left in the employment side of it. I was (am) working in a lovely oasis in South East London called the Horniman Museum and Gardens. There I have learned a lot of gardening and life skills that will help me so much in the future. Thanks Horniman! (Thorniman!) Before that I was lucky enough to enjoy a foundation year at Camberwell College of Art, specialising in illustration. There I learned what techniques were available to me, and met a lot of interesting people, and was encouraged more, but it was not for me. As I came away with the Foundation Degree I began a correspondence course with the RHS for their Level 2 Diploma, and have now done all of the coursework, just need to take the exams at some point, probably after brushing up on their way of doing things for a few months! Though I sure as hell have the practical experience now! After my year at uni I found myself unemployed and bored, so I began to volunteer at the Horniman, and I did this rather intensively for six months before attaining the apprenticeship. And that brings us back here! I am about to move in with my fiancé and begin a new life in the country. I will soon be a full-time mum to a little puppy (99% sure it will be a Labrador!) and wife and housekeeper for my dear Thomas. Of course that will leave me a lot of free time still, in which I plan to draw, paint and garden to my heart's content and hopefully produce something half-decent as a result. ...I should probably come back and read this through but I bet I just watch a movie and chat on Facebook and forget all about it. ;) ...also it doesn't seem to let me do paragraphs. The Colour Factory I'll be colouring this at the weekend so that it no longer looks like a whale came in the room. I'm glad arting has started now, but unfortunately, still with a week to go, I am now super frustrated! At least I am relaxed enough to create.